Thanks @netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. There’s a lot happening in this book, and I wish I read it over the holidays where I could read it in a shorter time frame. This might make it easier to keep track of all of the characters. That said, I could not put this book down. I even ended up finishing it in the parking lot today before I went into the Board Office. I loved the political connections and the very interesting plotline. I was not expecting the events at the end. This is a different kind of suspenseful read, but a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ one for sure! Check out this book when it comes out in March. #salemscipher #avivaandfriendsrecos

Salem's Cipher by J. Lourey, published by Thomas & Mercer is the first book in the Salem's Cipher Series.
A fantastic, unputdownable read, 4,5 stars.
Blurb:
Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst, courted by the world’s top security agencies ever since making a quantum computing breakthrough. She’s also an agoraphobe who's afraid to leave her own home. When her mother’s disappearance is linked to a plot to terminate a presidential candidate, she's forced out of her safe zone.Drawn into a labyrinth of messages encrypted by century-old codes tucked inside the Beale Cipher, Salem begins to uncover the an ancient group is hell-bent on ruling the world, and only a select group of women stands in its way.

I have previously read all of Jess Lourey's books so was very excited to see this book. This book reminded me a little of Dan Brown's books as there was quite a bit of history/geography in the novel. Some readers found this tedious I think but I enjoyed reading about places I didn't know much about.
Salem and Bel (ISabelle) have been best friends since they were young all though life has them drifting apart lately they are drawn together when their mothers disappear leaving behind a lot of blood and some clues in one of their homes. Not knowing if their mothers are kidnapped, dead or otherwise they work together and find out their moms belong to the "underground" a group made up of many very wise and strong women.
Since Salem is a cryptologist she is perfect for trying to make sense of the few clues that were left to them.
I found the book interesting and suspenseful all though sometimes Salem's personality did bother me a bit on how she constantly had to take anxiety medicine to do almost anything.

I'm a huge fan of Jess Lourey's Minnesota-based thrillers and was super excited that this book was available to read. The synopsis was intriguing and reminded me of Dan Brown's Robert Langdon series, which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have liked. The mystery and puzzles were interesting, but the writing just didn't flow well for me. The scientific research and other lengthy descriptions were a bit too much and distracted me from the storyline. I believe that this is one of Lourey's earlier books and it shows. I'm still going to give the second book a try and see if I enjoy it better than this one.

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for granting me digital access in exchange for my honest review!

Despite being a genius codebreaker, Salem Wiley is something of a recluse. Partly because she suffers from PTSD, for reasons explained in the novel.

One exception to her antisocial tendencies is Salem's relationship with her best friend Bel, whom she has known since childhood. The two also share another connection - they were both raised by parents involved with a secret society known as The Underground, focused on promoting feminine power, and operating in opposition to a society of powerful men who are part of the order making up the misogynistic Hermitage Foundation.

When their mothers are abducted, Salem and Bel must crack a series of ciphers in order to solve the mystery. Some people may make comparisons between this book by Jess Lourey and some of Dan Brown's books, due to the overlap of certain elements: secret societies, power structures and coded information. For me, that's not a valid comparison, for reasons I will mention in due course.

Although I have loved some of Jess Lourey's books, this was not one of my favourites, primarily because I am not a maths boffin. In some ways, the story may seem farfetched, but to anyone who has watched documentaries about the powers behind the rise of right-wing American politicians in the last few decades would know that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that we, as the general public, are not party to.

For me, the issue was more that I would have liked to have seen more character development. The ciphers, codebreaking and other technical elements are clearly well researched and will appeal to like-minded readers, I have no doubt. The misogyny, in a slightly less direct form, is all too evident in US politics right now.

On a different note, the comparisons with Dan Brown simply do not work for me because I find his books both farfetched and not particularly well written. While this isn't this writer's best book, in more general terms, Lourey is a much better writer than Brown, in my opinion.

All in all, the book was interesting enough, and I liked the concept. I hope to see the characters fleshed out more effectively in the next books of this series. This story will likely be a good fit for those who like reading about conspiracies and codes, and don't mind a little suspension of disbelief.

This one was too in the weeds for me. It was well researched, but there was a definite lack of flow.